Forever Yours

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

When I was nine years old, our house was right across the street from the school. I really liked it since it meant that I didn't have to wake up early. After all, it only took about a minute to cross the street. Anyways, one day I forgot my homework about long addition or something like that and I didn't remember until the teacher told us to turn it in. Instead of owning up and admitting that I forgot my work, I excused myself to the bathroom, ran across the street to my house, stuffed the paper in my sweatshirt, and ran back to the school to turn it in.

The point of the story isn't that you should run home to pick up your homework every time you forget it. If anything, don't do that because I got caught in the end. The point is that I'm naturally a good person, especially when it comes to school. Skipping school has crossed my mind hundreds of times, but I always chicken out in fear of getting caught and suspended.

So why am I comfortably eating nachos in the food court at the mall instead of rushing back to school and facing Zoey? Well, the idea of facing Zoey is a big reason, but the main reason why I'm not in a rush is because of the person who's currently buying me a drink right now.

Maybe about five minutes into entering the mall, the same guy who works at the dark jewelry store stopped me from running to the bathroom to hide and started a conversation. I don't know why he even wanted to be near me considering I ruined one of his shirts with my snot and tears. Oh, let's not forget about how I tried to kiss him without knowing his name.

Classy aren't I?

He appears in front of me and places a drink on the table with a smile. "Orange banana, right?" he asks, pushing the drink towards me while holding his own drink. It looks like a blueberry and some other fruit smoothie. That's something Jason would drink but I don't think about it too much. People have similar tastes these days.

"Yeah, thanks," I say, taking the drink. I start taking long sips of my smoothie while watching as the liquid slowly starts to go down. When I look up, the guy is staring at me with a soft smile on his face. The look in his eyes gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside making me smile back at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask, tucking some of my hair back behind me ear.

He shrugs while keeping his eyes on me. "I like looking at you," he easily replies,, leaning across the table and getting closer to me. With the lack of distance between us, I can easily pick up the smell of peppermint on his breath. I like the smell of peppermint.

I clear my throat and lean back against my chair away from him. Can't have him thinking I'm trying to kiss him again. "You know," I start, trying to change the subject, "I've cried on your shoulder, you've offered me a ride home-"

"Which you declined," he interrupts, pointing a finger at me.

I roll my eyes. "And now you brought me a smoothie. I don't even know your name."

He stays silent for a while, making me raise my eyebrows at him. It looks like he's contemplating on whether or not he should tell me his name. I don't see why not. It's only his name, it's not like it's anything dangerous.

"Layton," he answers, giving me a wary look.

I give him a weird look before continuing to sip my drink. Why did he look so nervous to tell me his name? Wait, is he a wanted criminal. That's just great. My first major crush since Clyde Barns had to be a criminal. I discreetly pull out my phone and make up some excuse of texting someone even though I'm actually typing his name on Google.

Turns out, to find someone on Google, you need their last name. But how am I supposed to get that without sounding so weird? Maybe I just lead a conversation towards it somehow? Okay I got this.